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ok... we have a good selection of songs... i'm gonna shut down new suggestions since we've almost reached our limit... so if anybody who is attending wants to suggest a further song, Feel free to add to the potential list if you want to suggest a special song. I'll add it to the potential list... not sure what the 'fit' is right now since some of the songs are much longer than the typical 3-4 minutes.

Keep suggesting if you are attending and haven't put in a song yet!

I'll keep adding as they fit but otherwise i'm gonna go with the songs we have *unless the requesters modify them* I hope to have a final list soon.

it's possible i may decide to ask the requesters of those very long songs to submit a new request or i might edit the song to a shorter version.

I could think of more, I have music all over me. But thats what Ive been drawn to, these nights.

Logged

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

eep! Well, if its just a spot, then I gotta go with Hallelujiah. Its a little somber, but damn, it never fails to move me. Sorta like these forums sometimes.

Logged

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

Dingo....any spots left. I'm always the last one to jump on board. That may explain this pain in my butt. Oh well....Deputy Dawg. Just let me know........Clocks by Coldplay..exert from the song.".am I part of the disease or am I part of the cure"

I don't know what you're deal is, with respect to the messages posted here, but you're language and vitriol is uncalled for. I'm giving you a two-day time out. You'll be able to login again Tuesday morning.

7/17 EDIT: i'm really really closing suggestions out as of this friday july 21. I think we are full now and I need to start churning and burnign... I plan to have 50 disks available for the meet & greet for whoever is attending and send some copies via mail to special people like ann, who can't attend. i expect some 40 or so people attending. do we have a nubmer including locals?

My goal is to include as many songs as possible, but I am limited by the media (if i have to cut a song it will be canucks... it's 7 minutes long and while in french... most of us just won't get it no matter what... i can edit it to reduce the extremely long musical intro but since it's still in french, which most of us don't speak, the meaning is lost on most of us.. and this cd should be about meaning. I'd suggest that you canuck propose a new song as a contingency.

I hate making decisions like this cuz i feel like i'm fucking somebody over or not respecting them.. (i've also emailed two people about their songs and they have been replaced because they lacked 'meaning' or emotion).

I know I can't please everyone, but i'm trying. But as some say, I'm just a 'fucking snob'.

Ultimately it will really be decided by what 'fits' phsycially on the cd and what 'fits' having some emotional reason to include it.

I hope you all understand that and respect my hard choices without faulting me for it or being hurt because that is my farththest intention. Even the two people i messaged, i wrote a book to them about it and constantly reiterated I felt like shit having to do that.

My only real requirements ever were that the song you suggest mean something to you personally and have some 'emotional' meaning.

Frankly, I'll say I'm not fond of alot of songs on here that have been suggested. But it's not my place to pick and choose what i like for the cd. The reason i emailed those two was to check if they had some emotional attachment to it (which both responded they didn't), so i removed them.

I know I MIGHT screw up but, if i do, please forgive me, I'm not trying to hurt anyone, but just put together something nice.

I think I speak for most of us who are going to Montreal when I say I appreciate your hard work and your efforts in making this CD. Whether you're able to "fit' all the songs suggested or NOT....I'm quite certain it will mean a lot to all of us. Thank You!

You're one heck of a deputy dawg and we love you! Can't wait to give you a great big Alabama hug

$0.66 per cd x 50 = $33.33 each disk will take up to 30 minutes to burn due to the lightscribe image lable (ugh.. fuck me) and that's 2 disks per person a total of about 50 hours burn time ... do you love me yet?

another 50 cd's for the commmorative photo cd/dvd $33.33

50 double holder dvd cases $40 (may be able to find cheaper online)

Printed inserts $0.30 x 50 = $15

mail $.050 x 50 = $25.00 (will have to mail the 2nd video cd) yes, I will need your addresses. I'm not sure how to handle that... some people may not be comfortable giving out addresses and that's fine... perhaps andy or tim could collect them and distribute the finished products with me providing postage and shipping containers. I'm not sure what people feel comfortable with.

But bottom line is you won't get the dvd of the event if you don't provide your address.. but i will have the cd there for the event (obviously i can't have the dvd since it has to be done after the event)

So rounding that off it's $150 contribution indirectly to the amg.

That's my gift to you all (and what I can happily afford especially since i just got a $2300 annual raise)

I just wanted to contribute something that would be memorable and a keepsake maybe.

So.. it's not just pocket change to me to try to do this right, but you all are worth it and I wanted to contribute something. (plus i had to buy a $100 burner but i can return that maybe .. actually i'll keep it because i think it's cool to lightscribe labels on a disk)

oh, and i do plan on publishing this to youtube and blogging it.

***NOTICE*** if anyone is the least uncomfortable having their face on camera, please let me know... by pm or whatever method. That's completely ok and I understand. Being on camera will not mean you are HIV positive unless you say so, but there is the oft quoted 'guilt by association. Maybe rab and killfoile or somebody can help me navigate this sensitive issue.. or anyone... i want everybodies input.

I think most people here are comfortable having their face plastered on this website (as evidenced by your avatars), but I DO NOT want to make anybody uncomfortable in attending the event and I DO NOT want to include face shots of people who do not wish to be included. I am very sensitive to this issue and DO NOT wish anyone to be afraid to attend because there might be cameras.

Now, we are a big bunch of photo/video takers... so if you don't want something published, you do need to speak up. Nobody will think less of you in any manner I can assure you. I believe the majority attending to be very open, but that isn't the case with every individual and I do not wish to put undue stress on anyone.

I think I will try to have some type of photo release form.. probably at tim's conference, where I also plan to distribute the cd's, so that we know who is willing to have their pictures published and who doesn't want them. Remember, my blog is just not on here at aidsmeds/poz.com but also on youtube which has a much wider audience base.

I'm just giving fair warning. I want this to be a safe and comfortable environment for everyone and if you are not comfortable having your picture in my blog or posted then you will be asked to opt out... and all those who are willing will be asked to opt in.

This is all new for me, so i'm not sure how to proceed but am sensitive to peoples concerns. Please speak to me here or by pm if you have any concerns at all.

Thom and I say, flash away friend. We have nothing to hide and we think this project of yours is simply fantastic. You are a truly talented man and are so willing to share your expertise with the rest of us. Thanks for all your efforts.

I only included the cost so rab could add it to the total tally of what's been given. My contribution is only a teeny tiny part of that. I haven't done alot for the amg getting this together.. well actually i've done NOTHING... to help get this together.. that's not my forte, but the wonderful group of people we have here have.

What I can do is provide the cd and after the event a dvd (i hope) of the events... the cost really is minimal compared to what many generous donors have given (over $7k i believe).

If you like, you can buy me a beer, which I'll happily accept, though if you all buy me a beer, well, then the video will be like AMG GONE WILD!

maybe not a good thing.

I just wanted to do something special. Am I sure I can pull it off? NOPE. that scares me. I haven't tried this before.

and by the way, mailing costs will be minimal.. as I plan on having the cases and cover art all at the amg. It just didn't make sense to mail them later at higher cost.

so the only thing that needs to be mailed is a single CD after the event to complete the 'commemorative dvd/cd package'.

That's like a stamp here in the US, which is somethign i'm happy to pay.

I wanted to contribute and I found MY way to contribute.

The product won't be top notch... but then, you get what you pay for

But I hope the cd music and the eventual video means something to people to remember how powerful an event this is... especially when we are feeling down.

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

it has to be in grayscale as lightscribe (how i'm gonna burn it) doesn't do color yet. The disk is golden, so it's like black on gold... and 'white' areas will be the gold of the cd itself.

I'm not sure If i should include the title and tracks of the songs on it or not... i can include them in the sky above the cityscape but maybe that might be too busy... any thoughts on this from anyone?

the picture of the cityscape is a random picture i found googling for montreal.

for those not familiar with lightscribe, it uses a special cd burner (how you write stuff to the cd) to burn the music and then flip it over and use the same drive to 'etch' a picture onto the label side... no markers, no stickers applied. very kewl. (though a bit hard to work with for design)

actually i didn't have to do alot of creation design work... the stuff was there.. just had to put it together. (thank gawd).

burned the first disk.. i'm not so impressed but it's good.. it's just very very light... just the nature of the medium i suppose.. i wish there was more 'crispness' there... but it still looks good.

teh black really isn't there.. it's more of a darker 'gold'... everything is still light on the disk.. but it does look ok... just wish there was more definition.

so just look at the original picture and imagine it all in gold... light gold for white and dark gold for black.. that's what i got.. unless i messed up on the initial burn and didn't do it in high qualitiy (also a possibility cuz i'm a lush)

Are you printing the label directly on the CD ? If so then it might be a problem in 5-6 months from here. I've seen this once and within 6 months the CD-Rs ( all of them ) were totally unusable. Indeed the ink eventually went through and on the opposite side of the label, the disc had black ink spots all over the surface ( it was a gold CD with label printed in black/grey ) and wouldn't play anymore.

What I mentioned above happened 6-7 years ago and unless they refined this process ( different type of ink by example ) then the same might happen.

The only thing subject to change is removal of the song 'another beautiful day' if my friend jen can locate the song she wanted.

rich, i kept your song in as i'm not sure if you are attending or not, but even if not, I wanted to include you.

and i need to talk to robert... can't locate your song. dammit.. knew i forgot something.

PLEASE doublecheck the artist and titles and make sure i didnt' make any other mistakes. I still have time to make necessary changes/corrections as i will not actually be burning the music for a week or two yet. (i'll be burning the cover art first without listing titles on the cd itself)

I have finalized the cd art ... it's pretty much the same but with minor changes (mostly to my banner graphic to make it crisper as it originally look blurry on the cd) and added a title bar at the top beneath the logo to read 'collectors music of amg' I've printed about 20 so far.... ugh.. takes forever... but the actual music burn will go quick.. it's the label that takes forever, which is why i started burning the labels early on so i can do a few a day... and then burn all the music in one day on all 50 discs.

okay, since there seems to have been some 'adjustments' to the attendance roster, I am going to open two spots on the cd for those who will attend.

As I understand it now, both cliff and oscar will not be attending (if my understanding is wrong, please correct me.. hey, I'm blonde). Originally it was just rich whose song i agreed to keep on the cd particular because of the circumstances that it might be painful for him to attend. (no more drama here please). I won't go back on my word to him here.

Now oscar and cliff are not attending and I really want this to be about people who are attending. So that leaves 2 slots for songs for those of you who haven't suggested songs yet.

AND WHERE ARE YOU REGULARS WHO POST HERE WHO HAVEN'T SUGGESTED YET??!?!???!?!?!?!

If nobody submits, I will keep the original songs or possibly replace them with others of my own choosing depending on my fickle blonde moment at the time . I still have adequate, but limited time to finalize the cd. the covers have been burned, but it does not include track information, so I can alter that at will.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to see some suggestions from people who are attending but who haven't suggested anything yet.

I hope I get those suggestions. Please try to keep the songs of a 'short' variety (like no long 7 minute sagas)

This is no slight against anyone, just that this should be about people who are attending.

"One of the Living" by Tina Turner. I've loved it since it came out in '85 and it always makes me square my shoulders and think, "What you got? Bring it on, Biatch!" Helped me through the first weeks of my diagnosis.

bas and jer and everybody, please realize these are not guaranteed additions, no hurt feelings please.

roger jer.

bas, we already have a tina turner song, not that another wouldn't fit (it's a bit long, but equal to size of one of the songs to be replaced... however, a shorter song may allow 3 total to be added) I'm disinclined to include another song of an artist already featured.